Hacker Help: Problems with holes

Description: We have three homes with a lot of Ikea furniture. But, how can you be proud of your kitchen or about your Billy when they’re showing off plenty of small holes, correctly made for you to choose where to put your shelves?

How can I solve this real big issue when Ikea is having hole plugs, or hole covers, or hole caps, only in black? My billys are the birch ones, and the Faktum only comes in white.

The Author

Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

G’day Hackers,I have used a set of ‘plug cutters’ in combination with any offcuts or scrap material with the same finish. They cut a small plug…as the name suggests… like a dowel from the same material as the piece, then its as easy as lining up the grain with that on the project and gluing it in place. (obviously using a plug cutter the appropriate size for the hole)

I dont have this on hand to check but how about something like a hama (vaktum) bead in cream or even just a paper bead and some very well matched nailvarnish and a steady hand… I did something similar on a much smaller project a while back and it worked quite well. You do have to get busy with a tweaser when you want them out though.

You can check out this specialty store Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com). To camoflage the holes look up PVC screw covers and unfinished wood screw covers. To make it fancy, look up “clavos“ (fancy nails). Maybe you can use these nails with some poster putty and stick them in the holes.

Or get a roll of matching melamine edging from the home centre and hole punch some circles, or use one long strip and lightly glue on with craft glue.

Also try googling `veneer screw caps`. I found some self adhesive ones.Good luck!

@billyhackerikea doesn’t sell them, at least not in italy. you can ask at the customer corner to have some, but they’ll be black. call it antracite or coal or dark grey, or any color you like, but white.

silicon or any other filler won’t be good, if in the future you’ll try to change your configuration. same if you’re drilling a bigger hole: all of your former ikea parts won’t fit anymore.

i did ask a friend of mine who’s in the hardware business, but he said no light colour exists…

I’ve used these “flat head plugs” from http://www.craftparts.com/buttons-and-plugs-c-162.html to fill holes in a project I did. For IKEA holes you might need to drill a slightly bigger hole (metric vs. inches) but these fit easily without glue if you use a rubber mallet.

They even have “side grain plugs” if you need a wood grain to show though stain.

Great great question.I’ve tried wood putty – doesn’t work because the texture and color is so different from the IKEA surface foils.

Stickers create unsightly seams…

But “hole covers!” I basically live in a hardware store, and I’ve never seen those. I have nine Billy’s, so I’ll be buying a hell of a lot of them if I can find them. This made me very excited, but made me wonder why IKEA doesn’t sell them?

The solution to your problem is at the next hardware store. Ask for wood filler, grain filler or wood putty. Different names for the same thing. They are available in all colors so you should not have any problems getting the right one.

I used to work at a print shop, and we used to do this to hide seams in wooden picture frames, so it might help your disguise. Get some shoe polish of the same colour as the furniture. Use a small golf tee or similar item to apply it to the inside of the hole, making it less visable.

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